The Stand Ins
Okkervil River
Score:72
Reviewer: Justin Pearsall
Label: Jagjaguwar (USA & UK), Spunk (Australia)
Reviewed: Sep 28th '08, Released:2008
Although it didn’t meet Okkervil River’s original plans, their last release, The Stage Names, was among the standouts of 2007. Conceived as a double album, the record was a warts-and-all display of literary folk rock and a perfect vehicle for the band’s fervent frontman, Will Sheff, and his tales of rock excess.
With The Stand Ins, Okkervil River’s fifth studio album, Sheff succeeds in completing his original vision. The resulting record continues his fascinating ability to smudge the lines between storytelling and supposed autobiography, differentiating itself from its predecessor by some forays into new musical styles but mostly sounding like a companion piece to The Stage Names.
The Stand Ins true beginning, the pop driven ‘Lost Coastlines’, the record’s catchiest moment, challenges this. Partly verse-driven rock and part croon, the track suggests that the continuity between the two albums is more tied to Sheff’s lyricism than the band’s music. However, this is misleading as ‘Singer Songwriter’, ‘Starry Stairs’ and ‘Pop Lie’ all sit comfortably next to the highlights of The Stage Names in both output and style.
Acting as both a completely separate record and as part of a collection of songs is both plus and minus for The Stand Ins. Positively, the consistency of Okkervil’s output means that there is an album’s worth of strong material here and it is interesting to place the records back-to-back to listen to the band’s progression. The key to this development is the maturity of The Stand Ins, but it is also this restraint that makes the album less rollicking and, in some ways, less fresh than last year’s release.
Just like The Stage Names before it, The Stand Ins is a strong record. While not as immediate or as driving as last year’s output, The Stand Ins shows that Okkervil River have the songs to pull off a double album, or an album a year. This is something that not many bands today can claim.
